Rachel Baldwin, center right, 32 of Greeley, leads a prayer Saturday morning before the northern Colorado chapters of the Christian Motorcyclists Associations head out for the Run for the Son from Johnson’s Corner, 2842 SE Frontage Road in Johnstown. Baldwin is the secretary of the Greeley chapter, Glory Riders. (Trevor Reid/treid@greeleytribune.com)

Christian Motorcyclists Association

The northern Colorado chapters of the Christian Motorcyclists Association went on the 31st annual Run for the Son ride on Saturday, in conjunction with more than 1,000 other chapters across the country. A motorcycle ministry, the Christian Motorcyclists Association collects about $5 million each year with the nationwide Run for the Son. For more information, go to http://www.CMAUSA.org.

Sporting leather jackets as they cruised down U.S. 34 on motorcycles, the riders could have been mistaken for a motorcycle gang.

But a closer look at their patches revealed Bibles and crosses designating their membership to the Christian Motorcyclists Association, a motorcycle ministry with representation in 38 countries across the world.

More than 50 people joined the northern Colorado chapters of the Christian Motorcyclists Association on Saturday for the 31st annual Run for the Son. The ride began in the late 1980s as an effort to provide a motorcycle to a pastor in Guatemala. Today, the ride is an opportunity for the organization to collect money gathered from year-round fundraising efforts. They collect about $5 million each year.

Doug Tschudy, 59, is president of the Greeley chapter, Glory Riders. Tschudy said he's always ridden motorcycles, something his mom and dad weren't too happy about. After about 35 years of riding, he wanted to find fellow motorcyclists who shared more than a love of the open road. When he found the Christian Motorcyclists Association, it was a perfect fit.

"We've got nothing to prove to anybody," Tschudy said. "All the clubs — I do mean all the clubs, whether you're talking about the one-percenters … Sons of Silence or even the Hells Angels — they'll all recognize us for a ministry, not a club."

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The northern Colorado ride began at the Loveland chapter's regular meeting place, Johnson's Corner, 2842 SE Frontage Road in Johnstown. Members from the Greeley, Loveland, Longmont and Fort Collins chapters, as well as some like-minded motorcyclists who aren't formally members, gathered in a large circle to pray before taking off Saturday. The president of the Loveland chapter, 65-year-old Darwin Buxman, said he was first attracted to the organization for its focus on Christ.

"We're all about changing the world one heart at a time. It starts with you. It starts with me," Buxman said.

Motorcyclists with the Christian Motorcyclists Association gathered to pray at 11 a.m. Saturday at Horsetooth Reservoir. More than 1,000 chapters across the United States and Canada went on the Run for the Son on Saturday, all stopping to pray at the same time. (Barbara Miller/For The Tribune)

"And it's all about Him," he said, gesturing toward the sky.

The riders went west to Horsetooth Reservoir, where they stopped to pray as more than 1,000 chapters did the same in the U.S. and Canada. The money collected at the Run for the Son is split so 40 percent goes to reaching motorcyclists through the organization, and the rest is split equally between three partner ministries: the Jesus Film Project, Open Doors and Missionary Ventures. Their collected efforts reach people in more than 100 countries across the world, but the direct connections they make with others through Christ seem to be at the center of their work.

"Before Christ, I was very lost in a world of drugs and alcohol," said area representative Mitch Graves. "I've been rescued from a world that was probably either going to put me in jail or put me in the grave."

From Horsetooth Reservoir, the group went back east to meet at the Greeley chapter's monthly meet-up location, Rudy's Bar-B-Q, 2473 28th St. The members gave thanks in prayer for a beautiful spring day as they rode across northern Colorado. Rachel Baldwin, secretary of the Glory Riders, said the organization can do powerful things for all kinds of people, including recovering alcoholics, victims of abuse or neglect, and sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder.

"There are so many people who use other things to cope. Motorcycles are a positive mechanism for some people," Baldwin said. "And then you power that with prayer. I think it's a really glorified way to serve."